Augmented Reality System Incorporating Transforming Avatars

ABSTRACT

An improved playground system is disclosed. A playground toy incorporates a wireless transceiver and a motion sensor. Based on the level of activity monitored by the motion sensor, the wireless transceiver transmits a message to smart devices, such as smart phones or wearable computers that causes an augmented reality avatar for the playground toy to transform. When additional activity is noted, additional messages causing additional avatar transformations can be sent.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/148,093, entitled “AUGMENTED REALITY SYSTEM INCORPORATINGTRANSFORMING AVATARS,” filed Jan. 6, 2014, assigned to PLAYGROUND ENERGYLTD, HRISTO CHERNOPEEV STR. NO. 5, ENTRANCE A APARTMENT 12, SOFIA,BULGARIA, and which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entiretyto provide continuity of disclosure.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the reproduction of the patent document or the patentdisclosure as it appears in the files or records of the Patent andTrademark Office, but otherwise reserves all copyright rightswhatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and data asdescribed below and in the drawings that form a part of this document:Copyright Playground Energy Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to augmented reality systems.More particularly, the present disclosure relates to the use of avatarscorresponding to various objects within an augmented reality system,including non-living objects, and more particularly still, relates tothe transformation of avatars assigned to objects, including non-livingobjects, within an augmented reality system based on certain criteria.Most particularly, the present disclosure relates to the transformationof avatars assigned to various pieces of playground equipment based onchildren's interaction with the playground equipment.

BACKGROUND

Playgrounds are well known in the art. Generally, playgrounds arerecognized as areas where children, and sometimes adults, can gather tomeet others and play various games. Most playgrounds include a playsetwith a number of pieces of playground equipment.

Some common types of playground equipment include:

-   1) Swings;-   2) Slides;-   3) Rotating Carousels;-   4) See Saws;-   5) Rockers;-   6) Climbing Walls;-   7) Climbing Nets;-   8) Climbing Platforms;-   9) Poles;-   10) Sand boxes.

While minor changes have been made to the design and implementation ofthe major types of playground equipment, there has been little change inthe operation of playground equipment in many years. In particular,there has been little effort to combine classic playground equipmentwith modern technology, such as the Internet. Accordingly, a need existsfor more technologically advanced playground equipment that incorporatesmodern technology.

Augmented reality technology has existed since the 1990s. Generally, anaugmented reality system comprises a smart device, such as a smartphoneor tablet computer, which incorporates a camera, display, GPS receiver,and Internet connection. An application running on the smart deviceoperates the device's camera to capture an image in real time, which isdisplayed on the display. The application also operates the GPS receiverto determine the device's location, and in some implementations, alsodetermines the facing of the device, which may require using a gyroscopein the device. The application uses this information to access augmentedreality information through the Internet connection, which is displayedover the camera image on the display.

Typical uses of augmented reality include the display of advertisementson the display, such as special deals that augmented reality users cansee while shopping, as well as other types of information, such as thehistory of a statue in a city. The use of avatar's in augmented realityapplications to represent players of a game, for example, has been usedin the prior art. However, the use of avatars in specific and augmentedreality in general, has been used primarily to display staticinformation.

Accordingly, there exists a need to utilize more dynamic augmentedreality systems.

OBJECTS OF THE DISCLOSED SYSTEM, METHOD, AND APPARATUS

Accordingly, it is an object of this disclosure to provide improvedplayground equipment.

Another object of this disclosure is to provide improved playgroundequipment incorporating an augmented reality avatar;

Another object of this disclosure is to provide improved playgroundequipment incorporating transforming augmented reality avatars;

Another object of this disclosure is to provide an augmented realitysystem incorporating transforming augmented reality avatars.

Other advantages of this disclosure will be clear to a person ofordinary skill in the art. It should be understood, however, that asystem or method could practice the disclosure while not achieving allof the enumerated advantages, and that the protected disclosure isdefined by the claims.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

An improved playground playset is disclosed. The disclosed playsetcomprises one or more playground toys, each including a motion sensor, aprocessor, a wireless transceiver, and a power source. The processor isadapted to monitor the motion sensor and transmit a message using thewireless transceiver with the amount of detected motion to nearby smartdevices. The nearby smart devices, each of which can be running anaugmented reality application, receive the motion indication message,and based on this message, modify the state of an avatar that isassociated with a playground toy. The state of the avatar can include aparticular image or collection of images, as well as a particular soundor collection of sounds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Although the characteristic features of this disclosure will beparticularly pointed out in the claims, the invention itself, and themanner in which it may be made and used, may be better understood byreferring to the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like referencenumerals refer to like parts throughout the several views and in which:

FIG. 1 is an overhead view of an augmented reality system incorporatingone or more transforming augmented reality images and constructed inaccordance with this disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a system diagram of an interaction circuit for use with anaugmented reality system constructed in accordance with this disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a playground playset constructed inaccordance with this disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a perspective of the playground playset of FIG. 3 viewedthrough an augmented reality viewer constructed in accordance with thisdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a simplified schematic diagram of an interaction circuit foruse with a playground toy and constructed in accordance with thisdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process for use by an interaction circuit tocommunicate with nearby smart devices;

FIGS. 7a-c are views of a display from a viewing device for use with theimproved playground system of this disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process for use by a smart device tocommunicate with nearby interaction circuits;

FIG. 9 is a simplified schematic diagram of a smart device for use witha system constructed in accordance with this disclosure;

FIG. 10 is an alternative system diagram of an interaction circuit foruse with an augmented reality system constructed in accordance with thisdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning to the Figures and to FIG. 1 in particular, an overhead view ofan augmented reality system constructed in accordance with the disclosedinvention. In particular, the depicted system is an overhead view of anurban area incorporating an aspect of the disclosed augmented realitysystem. The overhead view consists of a building 102 and an interactiondevice 106.

Turning to FIG. 2, a user 202 can view a target 212 using a viewingapplication (not shown) operating on the user's 202 smart device 204. Asdepicted, the smart device 204 is shown as a smart phone. However, othertypes of smart devices can be used, such as, for example, wearabletechnology including smart watches and smart glasses. The smart device204 accesses augmented reality information through a network 222 such asthe Internet from an augmented reality service 232. The augmentedreality service 232 can be implemented as a server, or as a cloud basedservice.

Returning to FIG. 1, the depicted system implements an augmented realitytreasure hunt. In one implementation, the user 202 would only need toapproach within an activation distance of particular point, such as 106.On coming within the activation distance, an avatar, such as a characterin a story can be displayed. The displayed avatar can then pose ariddle, puzzle or task for the user 202 to solve. After the user 202completes the avatar's request, the avatar can be changed to indicatethat the user has completed that part of the treasure hunt.

In a second implementation, the user 202 would need to interact withinteraction device 106. The interaction may require approaching withinan activation distance, such as within range of a wireless devicedisposed within the interaction device 106. On coming within theactivation distance, an avatar, such as a character in a story can bedisplayed. As before, the displayed avatar can then pose a riddle,puzzle or task for the user 202 to solve. However, in thisimplementation, the solution to the riddle, puzzle, or task wouldrequire that the user 202 interact with the interaction device 106. Forexample, the user 202 may need to press a button on the interactiondevice 106. After the user 202 completes the avatar's request, theavatar can be changed.

Turning to FIG. 3, a perspective view of a playground playsetconstructed in accordance with this disclosure is depicted. The playsetcomprises a number of playground toys, including a swing set 302, aslide 304, and a rocker 306. Each of the playground toys also includesan interaction circuit; i.e., the swing set 302 includes interactioncircuit 352; the slide 304 includes interaction circuit 354; and therocker 306 includes interaction circuit 356. The interaction circuitresident in each operates to communicate with an application resident ona user's smart device (not shown). The interaction circuit associatedwith each playground toy causes the application on the user's smartdevice to display an avatar. For example, the avatar displayed on theuser's smart device associated with the swing set 302 may be a simpleline face 402, while the avatar associated with the slide may be a robotface 404, and the avatar associated with the rocker may be an alien face406.

As further explained herein, the avatar associated with each playgroundtoy changes based on the interaction of users with the playground toy.For example, an avatar that is not being played with may appear sad, andmay generate sad noises, such as whimpering, etc. If a child begins toplay with the toy, such as, for example, by swinging on the swings, theavatar changes from a sad face to a contented face, and then a happyface. Similarly, the sounds made by the avatar will also change from sadto contented to happy (e.g., laughter, etc.).

Turning to FIG. 5, a simple schematic diagram of an interaction circuitis set forth. Each interaction circuit comprises a processor 502, whichis coupled to a motion sensor 504 and a wireless transceiver 506. Apower source 508, such as a battery or generator, supplies power to allof the other components. The wireless transceiver can be of variousdifferent types, including, for example, Bluetooth and 802.11. Theinteraction circuit interacts with applications executing on smartdevices that are within range of the wireless transceiver 506.

FIG. 6 illustrates a process by which an interaction circuit caninteract with nearby smart devices. In step 602 the interaction circuitreceives a query from a nearby smart device. In step 604, adetermination is made as to whether the interaction circuit was in sleepmode. If the device was in sleep mode, it wakes up in step 606.Execution then transitions to step 608, which is where executiontransitions to if the interaction circuit was not in sleep mode.

In step 608, a readout from the motion sensor is sent to the nearbysmart device. Execution then transitions to step 610 where a check ismade as to whether the motion indication exceeds a predetermined level.If not, execution transitions to step 612, where sleep mode is entered,and the process exits in step 614. Similarly, if the motion indicationexceeds a predetermined level, the process exits in step 614.

FIGS. 7a-7c are views of an augmented reality application displaying aswing set 302 and its avatar 502 in various states. In FIG. 7 a, theavatar 502 is in a sad state 502 a as no one is playing with the swingset 302. In FIG. 7 b, the avatar 502 is in a contented state 502 b as achild has started playing with the swing set 302 as detected by a motiondetector in the interaction circuit disposed in the swing set 302.Finally, in FIG. 7 c, the avatar 502 is in a happy state 502 c as a pairof children are vigorously playing with the swing set 302 as detected bythe motion detector disposed in the swing set 302.

The disclosed application is meant to run on a variety of smart devices,including smart phones, tablets, and wearable devices, such as smartglasses and smart watches. Certain devices, such as smart phones, arelikely to have multiple embedded cameras; i.e., one on the back and oneon the front. When implemented on a smart phone, a preferred embodimentof the disclosed application would utilize the front facing camera. Thiswould allow a user, such as a mother, to show her child an image of thechild playing with and interacting with the avatar assigned to eachplayground toy.

FIG. 8 depicts a process by which smart devices can communicate withnearby interaction circuits. In step 802, a smart device can initiatecommunication with nearby interaction circuits. In step 804, the smartdevice receives any motion indication readings from the nearbyinteraction circuits, and in step 806, the smart device adjusts thestate of any avatars that the device is tracking. For example, in step806, the smart device can adjust the appearance of an avatar and thesound effects produced by an avatar.

It should be noted that there are other ways that a similar function canbe accomplished other than the specific processes and methods outlinedherein. In particular, the motion of a playground toy can be sensedusing the facilities of the smart device; i.e.; the camera andprocessor. An algorithm operating on the smart device can sense theprecise level of motion of the playground toy, and adjust the state ofavatars associated with the playground toy.

FIG. 9 depicts a simplified view of the operative circuit of a smartdevice for use with disclosed augmented reality system. Various smartdevices can be used, such as, for example, smart phones, tablets, andsmart glasses. However, all will generally comprise a processor 902, adisplay 904, a wireless transceiver 906, a memory 908, a battery 910,and a camera 912. In certain embodiments, the smart device can alsoinclude a speaker 914. The smart device is adapted to run an augmentedreality application as described herein.

It should be noted that an embodiment has been described that makes useof mobile devices. Other embodiments can also be made and still practicethe disclosed system. For example, turning to FIG. 10, at least onefixed camera 1004 could be disposed so as to view a playground toy 1002.The fixed camera 1002 records live video of the playground toy 1002 andanyone who interacted with it. The live video is transmitted via theInternet 1006 to a remote server 1008, which applies an augmentedreality algorithm as discussed herein. In particular, an avatar withvarying states would be superimposed on the live video and associatedwith the playground toy 1002. Such a system could be used, for example,to display to lines of waiting patrons at theme parks. Similarly, thesystem could be used to display scenes of children playing at mallplaygrounds on public screens disposed within the mall (such as at amall food court).

The foregoing description of the disclosure has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise form disclosed. Thedescription was selected to best explain the principles of the presentteachings and practical application of these principles to enable othersskilled in the art to best utilize the disclosure in various embodimentsand various modifications as are suited to the particular usecontemplated. It is intended that the scope of the disclosure not belimited by the specification, but be defined by the claims set forthbelow. In addition, although narrow claims may be presented below, itshould be recognized that the scope of this invention is much broaderthan presented by the claim(s). It is intended that broader claims willbe submitted in one or more applications that claim the benefit ofpriority from this application. Insofar as the description above and theaccompanying drawings disclose additional subject matter that is notwithin the scope of the claim or claims below, the additional inventionsare not dedicated to the public and the right to file one or moreapplications to claim such additional inventions is reserved.

1. A playground toy comprising: i) a motion sensor; ii) a processorcoupled to the motion sensor; iii) a wireless transceiver coupled to theprocessor; iv) wherein the processor is adapted to monitor the motionsensor for a predetermined level of activity and transmit a messageusing the wireless transceiver when the predetermined level of activityis detected.
 2. The playground toy of claim 1 wherein the processor isfurther adapted to transmit a second message using the wirelesstransceiver when a second predetermined level of activity is detected.3-8. (canceled)